A Year of Techniques: Knitted-on Edging!

A Year of Techniques: Knitted-on Edging!

A Year of Techniques now takes a sharp turn from adorable, lanky mice and graceful swaths of intarsia toward a quick project that is going to up our style game considerably.

Friends, we are making a cloche.

A cloche is a close-fitting, bell-shaped hat. (Cloche is French for “bell,” just saying.)

Go ahead, google “Downton Abbey cloche.” (We just did it for you.) Every hat you adored in Downton Abbey was a cloche. The word that comes to mind is fetching. We are low on fetching in our knitted hat wardrobe, and it’s about time we did something about it.

The beloved designer Romi Hill brings her deep understanding of lace to her Talmadge Cloche—we’ve never seen a lace pattern like this, and it’s just gorgeous in its subtlety and texture. Welcome, Romi! Don’t be a stranger!

In addition, we’re going to get the hang of the knitted-on edging. We are only vaguely acquainted with the technique of a knitted-on edging. The concept of knitting perpendicularly has many possible uses—blankets, shawls, pullovers—and, of course, a brim to a cloche.

And the Talmadge Cloche presents the opportunity for creative use of two decorative buttons. Buttons!

Our fearless leader, Jen Arnall-Culliford, explains it all for us in the video up top in her typically cool-headed way. And she includes quick lessons in cable cast on and knitted cast on. We Are Learning So Much, Y’all.

Here she is, fetching as ever.

How to Get in on This Fetching Project

Get the pattern. If you have already bought your Year of Techniques ebook, this new pattern has been delivered to your Ravelry library, ready to go. If you need to buy your Year of Techniques ebook, head over to Arnall-Culliford Knitwear where you can purchase your ebook and/or print copy of A Year of Techniques—it includes 12 patterns for the whole program.

Get the yarn. Any fingering weight wool will work well, though wildly variegated yarns may compete with the subtlety of Romi’s lace pattern. One 400-yard skein is plenty for this cloche. Of course, we believe that part of the fun with A Year of Techniques is discovering new yarns, so we’ve brought in some beautiful stuff. We have two different yarns in the Shop for this, both of which we are proud to offer.

If you’d like to order the three-project Summer Kit, Jen has a few kits remaining. They contain all the yarn you need to make the June, July and August projects—710 grams of yarn from Fyberspates and CoopKnits. And it all comes in the coveted A Year of Techniques bag. (You can see a spoiler picture here.) The kit costs £85.00 plus shipping from the UK. Order your kit here.

Join the conversation. We’ll be over in the Lounge talking about the Talmadge Cowl, in the topic “Technique Number 4: Knitted-on Edging.” And of course, the rollicking gang will be carrying on about it in the Year of Techniques Ravelry group. If you haven’t had the chance to join in, please do—I’ve already learned a lot from fellow knitters who are so helpful. Such a game bunch!

I have the perfect yarn and a head. And needles. I am all over this, mainly because I need a portable, easy-to-memorize pattern to knit at a conference over the next two days. Talmadge Clouche, here I come! (Whether I have the proper head and face for a cloche remains to be seen; however, I won’t know unless I try, right?)

Hi Pam! If you drop me a message through our contact form on our website (https://www.acknitwear.co.uk/contact/), then we can get you all sorted out. Just let us have your full name, email address and Ravelry username, and we’ll make sure you can find all of your files.

Just had a flashback to reading about a young boy who was learning to knit in school, and said that if his hat turned out to be too short when he cast off, he could just pick up stitches at the cast-on edge and knit more rows from that end. Remember that young boy, Ann? 🙂